Cinematography for Directors. Jacqueline Frost

Assassination of Jesse James, photographed by Roger Deakins, ASC

      Since the prime lens is created to do just one job many believe that the prime lens is much sharper than the zoom lenses, but today’s Panavision zooms and Zeiss ultra-speed zooms are also very sharp and crisp. The high-speed primes will have a wider iris opening such as a 1.4 to allow more light in and are preferable in low light situations. The cinematographer’s package may include a full set of primes from wide angle, to normal, to longer lenses as well as a zoom, which can be used for other aesthetic and practical applications.

      There used to be a quality difference between the zoom and a prime in terms of visual clarity? Do you think there still is?

      ■ It might not be in terms of the actual sharpness and resolution of the image so much, but there is a quality difference in terms of the length of glass that is in front of you on the lens and how that affects the feel of the camera movement and everything else. It looks different to me anyway. I know John Seale would totally say the antithesis of what I just said (laughs), it’s just interesting that everyone has a different way of working. It’s not that one is right or wrong, but I just get totally fixated working with prime lenses.

      (Roger Deakins, ASC, Frost interview, November 2007)

      ■ I love the change of focal length. I’ll do it in the middle of nearly every shot I operate on; you’ll see the corners of the frame moving. It’s called the imperceptibles you just slightly push in and adjust. You can see it with your brain, but you can’t see it with your eye, I just love it.

      (John Seale, ASC, Frost interview)